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Newsletter / Mailing list >
FEMALE PITCHING LEGEND TO SIGN @ TONY DEE'S
April 29, 2008
PLEASE NOTE THE WEB ADDRESS CHANGE TO:
WWW.TONYDEEsNEGROLEAGUE.COM
MAMIE "PEANUT" JOHNSON WILL BE SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS ON MAY
10th FROM NOON-2 PM AT TONY DEES NEGEOLEAGUE STORE...8126 W
9 MILE RD. OAK PARK, MI. 48237.
THE ONLY FEMALE PICHER FROM THE NEGRO BASEBALL LEAGUES.
THIS MAY BE YOUR LAST CHANCE TO MEET THIS LIVING LEGEND.
FOR MORE INFO. PLEASE VISIT WWW.TONYDEEsNEGROLEAGUE.COM
OR CALL 248-543-3810
MAMIE “PEANUT” JOHNSON
There was a pitcher who had a 38-6 lifetime record, who
beat some of the best players in baseball history. Yet
even some of the best baseball fans have never heard of
her. Yes.. her.
Her name was Mamie "Peanut" Johnson. She was one of three
women to play professional men's baseball. At a time when
even black men couldn't play baseball with the white men,
she was one of three women to play baseball in the Negro
leagues.
Her brief three-year career was brought down not by injury,
or losing her arm, but by the end of the leagues that gave
her the opportunity to play.
She was "discovered" at Rosedale playground in Washington
D.C. A scout saw her there. She said he always watched
them play, but he didn't talk to her until she was 18 or
19. The scout's name was Bish Tyson.
Mamie signed with the Indianapolis Clowns when she was only
19 years old. She got her nickname "Peanut" when she was
playing in Birmingham and a Black Barons player asked, “How
do you expect to strike any body out? You're no bigger than
a peanut!" She struck him out.
Mamie said she loved traveling around to all the cities,
even though life on the road was hard for Negro League
players. Many hotels and restaurants would not serve black
people, and hotels were hard to find. When Mamie was on the
road, instead of staying in hotels or barns with the men,
the team arranged for her to stay in people's homes.
She pitched at legendary stadiums such as Yankee Stadium,
Comiskey Park and Griffith Stadium.
Mamie said that not only black people came to the games but
a lot of white people came too.
The Clowns had spring training in Richmond, Virginia.
Spring training started at the end of March. The regular
season started in mid-April. They played at Parker Field
in Richmond during spring training. They got their name
because they had three men who traveled with them and did
clown tricks in the 7th inning stretch.
While playing for the Clowns, she became a friend of the
legendary Satchel Paige, who taught her how to throw a
wicked curve ball.
Mamie was born on September 27, 1935 in Ridgeway, South
Carolina. In her biography, "A Strong Right Arm," she said
"Mama never mentioned it, but I'm sure I was born with a
baseball in my hand."
She said she honed her skill by knocking birds off fences
with homemade baseballs in her hometown of Ridgeway, South
Carolina. "That's how I learned to throw strikes," she
said.
As a child, she had to make her own baseballs. She did
this by taking a rock and wrapping it really tight with
twine. Then she sewed the end. Last, she wrapped the
whole thing in tape.
In 1955 Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major
League Baseball. Soon after that Satchel Paige became the
first black pitcher in the American League. More and more
major league teams were raiding players from the Negro
Leagues. It became hard for the Clowns to survive. While
the National Association was changing its mind about
letting black men into white baseball, women would still be
banned from their leagues. Mamie's baseball career was
coming to a close.
Rosedale playground, the park where Mamie was "discovered",
will be re-named after her.
Mamie's name appears on the Negro Leagues Wall of Fame, the
only thing preserved from the old County Stadium in
Milwaukee.
Career: 1953-56 Positions: pitcher, utility player
Team: Indianapolis Clowns Bats: Right
Throws: Right Height: 5'4" Weight: 120,
Another of the Indianapolis Clowns' female players, she was
used as a pitcher and utility player. Nicknamed "Peanut"
because of her size, the little right-hander threw as hard
as many male pitchers. She attended Long Branch High
School, where she played boys' sports, including football.
She also attended New York University, where she studied
medicine and engineering, before signing with the Clowns at
age nineteen
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